- Title: Thousands protest in Budapest against 'anti-migrant' referendum
- Date: 30th September 2016
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (SEPTEMBER 30, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARTISTS MAKING PAINTING ENTITLED 'ALEPPO' IN STYLE OF PICASSO'S GUERNICA (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) ARTIST, PETER HORGAS, SAYING: "I think this is a scream from Hungary expressing that there are people here who have a heart and think normally." 'ALEPPO' PAINTING ON STAGE DEMO STAGE AND PEOPLE GATHERED IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT (AUDIO - SPEAKER ON STAGE) PROTESTERS AND BANNER SAYING (English) "home and freedom should be a human right." ELDERLY MAN WEARING SIGN SAYING (Hungarian) "I was too a refugee once", DISTRIBUTING LEAFLETS (AUDIO - SPEAKER ON STAGE) DEMO ORGANISER AND THEATRE DIRECTOR ARPAD SCHILLING SPEAKING ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) DEMO ORGANISER AND THEATRE DIRECTOR ARPAD SCHILLING SAYING: "We have been living in the captivity of fear and hatred but now we fear and we hate even those whom we do not know at all." PEOPLE CLAPPING ELDERLY WOMAN HOLDING EU FLAG VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WOMAN WHO TOOK PART IN DEMONSTRATION, ERIKA SARALJAI, SAYING: "Poor migrants are escaping from wars and here they are portrayed as terrorists who will cause trouble and wars and will drive us out from here. I find this outrageous." EU FLAGS (AUDIO - SPEAKER ON STAGE) (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WOMAN WHO ATTENDED DEMONSTRATION, ZSUZSA BERKESI, SAYING: "I think the referendum will be valid, more than 50% will go, and I feel already sick about it. But anyway it doesn't matter what will really happen because the government will communicate it the way it suits them. So we must show that not everyone is a Nazi here." PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER SAYING (English) "refugees welcome"
- Embargoed: 15th October 2016 20:42
- Keywords: migrants Budapest referendum protest refugees demonstration quotas
- Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00151RCND3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Artists and civil organisations held a protest on Friday (September 30) against what they saw as anti-migrant policies and hateful government propaganda.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Hungarians to reject European Union migrant quotas in a referendum on Sunday (September 25), evoking the fear of a militant attack to rally people to the polls in a vote that looks uncertain to reach the required turnout.
Ahead of the demonstration on Friday evening, 30 Hungarian artists gathered to put together a giant painting depicting the horrors of war in Aleppo in the style of the painting of Pablo Picasso of Guernica. The painting served as a background for the protest stage but it will also be going on a tour around Europe. The first exhibit place will be in Subotica in Serbia, then in Belgrade.
Organisers said they hoped the painting would urge people to show solidarity towards the people suffering in Syria and demonstrate that not all people in Hungary agree with the government's anti-migrant campaign.
Since last September, when hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East crossed Hungary on their way to richer countries in Western Europe, Orban has sealed the southern border with Serbia and Croatia to migrants with a razor wire fence and around 8,000 army and police.
While opinion polls show support for a rejection of the quotas topping 80 percent among those who say they will vote, they forecast turnout will not top the 50 percent required by the constitution for a referendum to be valid. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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